Start your ProcureCon journey with energy, mindfulness, and a renewed focus on what truly sustains our industry — our people. In this powerful opening discussion, leaders from across the contingent workforce ecosystem will shine a light on an often-overlooked topic: the health, wellness, and mental resilience of the professionals who power this industry every day.

• Learn how to identify and prevent burnout across contingent workforce teams.
• Discover how leaders are embedding wellness, balance, and mental health into their program culture.
• Gain strategies for maintaining focus, purpose, and energy throughout the conference and beyond. 

Leave your filters and your pretenses at the door, because this is the candid, irreverent industry reckoning you’ve been waiting for. Two absolute legends renowned for their zero BS approach Nick DiZoglio, Global External Workforce Compliance Leader, Biogen, and Lizzie Parnell, External Workforce Director, RSM take the main stage to deliver unvarnished insights, ask the hard questions, and expose where the industry’s getting it wrong (and right). From broken processes, supplier pain points, and tech hype, to internal politics and the future of procurement, nothing is off limits. So grab your coffee, your bloody mary, and your seat and get ready for a conversation that will challenge your thinking, fire you up, and leave you with actionable change to bring back to your program.

• Learn how to separate noise from the root causes that restrict program performance, based on real stories from leading practitioners.
• Get actionable strategies for pushing back against status quo thinking whether it’s legacy MSP models, outdated processes, or internal resistance.
• Walk away with tough questions and honest talking points you can use to drive transparency and meaningful dialogue with your team, stakeholders, and suppliers. 

• Uncover how organizations turn cross-functional tension into measurable results for their contingent programs.
• Pinpoint the shared strategies and mindsets behind standout successes across both procurement and talent teams.
• Apply story-driven lessons to inspire stronger collaboration—and bigger wins—within your own organization. 

MSPs have been declared obsolete for years, yet the managed service provider model continues to evolve, adapt, and deliver value in new ways. This provocative panel dives into the myths, realities, and reinvention of MSPs in today’s contingent workforce ecosystem. Leading experts and practitioners will unpack what’s truly changed—exploring how MSPs have shifted from transactional gatekeepers to strategic partners powered by analytics, dynamic supply chains, and tech-enabled innovation. Join the debate, hear fresh perspectives, and discover how the modern MSP is redefining workforce management for the next era.

• Rethink your understanding of MSP models and how they drive value in the current landscape.
• Spotlight the innovations and strategies that set high-performing MSPs apart.
• Accelerate your program’s impact by leveraging MSPs as strategic partners, not just intermediaries. 

Statement of Work (SOW) management continues to be the “600 lb gorilla” in every contingent workforce discussion difficult to define, easy to mishandle, and critical to get right. This confrontational panel invites SOW trailblazers, process architects, and skeptical practitioners to surface what’s broken, what works, and what’s needed for genuine improvement. Panelists debate the sticky issues of misclassification, runaway costs, murky ownership, and technology integration, while sharing real fixes (and failures) from the field. Expect straight talk on aligning policy, gaining stakeholder clarity, and building governance models that actually deliver on SOW’s promise without crushing your team or budget.

• Diagnose your organization’s top SOW pain points, from lack of ownership to tech misalignment, and spot where projects slip into the gray.
• Clarify roles, definitions, and compliance requirements to ensure SOW work is well governed and not a shadow contingent workforce.
• Design and enforce structured processes, leveraging data and technology, to drive accountability, cost control, and real business value from SOW initiatives.